The Land Before Time IX: Journey to Big Water
The Land Before Time IX: Journey to Big Water is a 2002 direct-to-video animated adventure musical film and the ninth film in The Land Before Time series. It was produced and directed by Charles Grosvenor. This is also the last film to use the soundtrack composed by James Horner. During the year this was released, Universal brought back on DVD, for the first time, two of the previous The Land Before Time films; The Great Valley Adventure and The Time of the Great Giving. It is paired with Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron. When heavy rains create a mysterious new water, Littlefoot sets off to explore the Great Valley. He quickly becomes friends with Mo the mischievous Ophthalmosaurus who has been isolated from his pod by the weather. When Littlefoot and friends get separated from their parents because of an Earthshake, they help Mo get back home to the Big Water, while avoiding a hungry Sharptooth Swimmer (Liopleurodon). On the way, Littlefoot and Mo discuss such interesting and see dangerous things like imaginary friends, the Sharptooth Swimmer, the concept of loneliness, and the true meaning of a brother. Plot After a period of harsh rain, the Great Valley is partially flooded and covered in debris. Littlefoot rushes to find his friends after the storm ends, but they are preoccupied: Cera and her father are removing a large log from their nesting area, Ducky and Spike are relocating their nest with their family, and Petrie has gotten a cold. Littlefoot is bored and wishes intently for a brother, but eventually explores on his own and discovers a large area flooded by the rains. The adults advise their children to stay away, fearing creatures from the outside may have been washed into the Valley. However, Littlefoot returns and meets Mo, a playful young swimmer that had been caught in the floodwater. Littlefoot quickly strikes up a friendship with Mo, and describes him as his mud brother (a pun on blood brother). His other friends are unsure of Mo initially, but also take to him. Mo explains that he is from the Big Water and he swam into the valley during the flooding. He confirms that he is alone, but soon after a sharptooth swimmer attacks the group. Littlefoot requests help from the adults to help Mo return home, but they refuse, not wanting to risk leaving the Great Valley to aid a strange outsider. A subsequent earthshake separates the children and Mo from the rest of the Great Valley, though also imprisons the sharptooth swimmer in an underwater cavern. Unable to return, they decide to deliver Mo home on their own. The children follow a river that they believe leads to the ocean. A Whitetailed Longneck mother, after a brief misunderstanding, allows them to take refuge at her nest for the night, and the friends are present to witness the hatching of her offspring. The next day, Littlefoot and the others realize that they are nearing the ocean, as they have begun to taste salt in the water. However, the sharptooth swimmer, having escaped from the cave, attacks them that night. The land surrounding the river is steep and slick with mud, and the children are unable to escape. Mo distracts the carnivore, farewells his friends and lures the sharptooth down the river. Mo has seemingly been killed, but he reappears the next day, unharmed; the sharptooth swimmer had smelled the ocean in the distance and abandoned the chase, choosing to return to the sea. The children reach the ocean, but Mo is saddened that his friends must depart. He wishes to remain with them, but the others explain that he cannot, and Littlefoot reminds Mo that the two will always be brothers. Mo reunites with his family and asks them for directions to the smoky mountains, as the children know how to find the Great Valley from that location. Before leaving, Mo offers to show Littlefoot his home. Littlefoot accepts the offer, and is amazed by the underwater world's beauty. Littlefoot and his friends exchange farewells with Mo and return home, where they are greeted warmly by the relieved adults. Voice cast * Thomas Dekker as Littlefoot * Anndi McAfee as Cera * Aria Noelle Curzon as Ducky * Jeff Bennett as Petrie * Rob Paulsen as Spike and Mo * Kenneth Mars as Grandpa Longneck * Miriam Flynn as Grandma Longneck * Tress MacNeille as Ducky's mother * John Ingle as Narrator and Topsy/Cera's Dad * Pete Sepenuk as Sharptooth Swimmer Songs * Imaginary Friends (performed by Thomas Dekker, Anndi McAfee, Aria Noelle Curzon and Jeff Bennett) * No One Has to Be Alone (performed by Thomas Dekker, Aria Noelle Curzon, Miriam Flynn, Jeff Bennett and Anndi McAfee) * Chanson D' Ennui (performed by Thomas Dekker, Aria Noelle Curzon, Anndi McAfee and Jeff Bennett) * Big Water (performed by Aria Noelle Curzon, Rob Paulsen, Thomas Dekker, Anndi McAfee and Jeff Bennett) * So To Be One of Us performed by Jon Robert Hall, D.J. Harper, Nils Montan, Bobbi Page, Wally Wingert and Lauren Wood * If We Hold On Together instrumental International releases For information about international dubs and releases, The Land Before Time IX: Journey to Big Water/ International. Category:2002 films Category:2000s American animated films Category:American musical films Category:Films produced by Charles Grosvenor Category:Films directed by Charles Grosvenor Category:Film scores by Michael Tavera Category:American sequel films Category:Direct-to-video sequel films Category:Universal Pictures animated films Category:Half-Disney Television Animation Category:Non-Disney animated films Category:Universal Studios Category:DVD Category:VHS Category:Universal Cartoon Studios Category:Films without Humans